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This is a tough question for me. I never thought crating was a good idea. I would always argue that it wasn't fair to the dog. I have always been an advocate for free range pets. My pets are all allowed on my furniture, and the dogs love nothing more than to pile on top of me to cuddle during a good movie. The first dog I brought home was a mixed breed, medium sized, rescue dog. I fell right in love with him and he became my sidekick. When we got him he had never been allowed inside a house, so naturally was not housebroken. I still did not crate him at night. I was going to stick to my guns no matter what!

About a year later as a coming home gift for my husband, who was deployed, we got another dog. My husband had always wanted a German shepherd and I was going to make sure he got one! After four months of searching and searching, I answered a local ad. I brought home our six month old, already fifty pound, shepherd one week after my husband got home. She grew to one hundred pounds in what seemed like a week. She learned to push open doors and decided that she needed to wake me up every two hours, every,single,night. And STILL, I refused to crate her. I would argue with my husband stating that she needed to be trained, not imprisoned.

Eight weeks ago I went to look at a litter of boxer pups. I figured a boxer would be a great breed for our family. The boxer is big enough, even as a pup, to handle my other two dogs. The problem occurred when I fell for the runt. When I brought him home I would have been surprised if he weighed a whole pound. He was so tiny that his whole body was the size of my shepherd's snout. When I noticed exactly how tiny he was next to her a thought hit me like a brick. How was I going to keep him safe at night? I know my shepherd would never purposely hurt him, but she's so big, and still young and clumsy that an accident could happen anytime. He was so small her giant paw could break his ribs if she happened to slip and step on him.I certainly couldn't keep him in bed with us, he's so tiny if he fell off the bed he could get really hurt. There was really only one answer. I crated him. His small size made it easy to find a nice roomy crate and he already had his own little pillow bed.

The first night was the worst. He howled for at least forty five minutes.And then, he fell fast asleep. Although I still don't believe in crating to take the place of training, I did it for safety reasons. He loves his own little private place now and he goes in all by himself when ever he gets tired. I honestly believe he feels safe inside his crate and it is his own.He is big enough now that he plays with my other two, and the crate is left open all day for him to come and go as he pleases. We still lock his crate at night, because he is still quite small (two pounds). But it didn't harm him in any way, in fact it keeps him safe. So I have changed my position on crating, but only for certain reasons.

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